Warhammer Orc Boar Boyz review

Orc Boar Boyz are the closest the replica rolex green skins have to heavy cavalry, as the name implies boars are ridden in the place of horses.

You never truly train a war boar you just learn to hold on… Tight.

First impressions

When I first saw the pictures of the new Boar Boyz it was apparent that they represented a vast improvement on the old mental/plastic boxed set, particularly the new boar mounts which I thought looked particularly characterful.

When I opened the new boxed set I wasn’t disappointed…

The pro’s

The box contains contains 3 sprues and they are crammed full of goodness, see below.

The first thing you will notice when you take a proper look at the various parts available on the sprue is that there is a lot of scope for personalising your boar boyz and their mounts.

Lets start with the boars, we have 3 basic body shapes, which is a slight disappointment, but when moving on to looking at the boar’s heads you can see straight away that there are a vast number of different combinations possible, so no two boars need ever look the same. There are 6 heads to which can be added a choice of 6 jaws and 5 pairs of ears, although it has to be said that 2 of the heads can only be used with 2 of the jaws. Reaching for the calculator (actually make that the spreadsheet) I work out that there are a grand total of 300 different combinations possible here, now I could be wrong and also some of these combinations will not look terribly different but I’m impressed.

Next up the boyz themselves, it appears that all 8 heads and bodies are fully interchangeable as are the various weapons, standards and the horn. Add to this 6 shields, 7 shoulder pads and 1 metal jaw… I’m not even going to try to work that one out. Suffice to say the box provides all the options in the army book and if buying more than one box it means you can field a unit with full command while the rest of the unit can be armed with the weapons of your choice.

The boar boyz models were very easy to put together and once built you can sit back and admire your unit of boar boyz and take in some of the great details on these models.

Firstly the boars are full of character, as mentioned in the intro of this review, whilst the old models looked, lets face it, awful. I have a half built boar chariot at home and my next project will be to try to stick 2 of these new guys up front. Although both the chariot and the boars will need modifying for this to work, thinking particularly of the hollows in the side of the boar where the riders legs are attached, still – it will happen…

The riders too blow the socks off their old counterparts, the way they sit on the boars, perched up high, somehow seems more believable and one of the nicest touches in the entire kit is the way their free hand is grasping a tuft of their mounts shoulder hair so they don’t get thrown off. All in all… They somehow manage to encapsulate exactly what I would imagine a Warhammer Boar Boy to look like.

Finally looking at the amount of plastic that you get for your £15 RRP you get a sense that this kit represents good value for money. The last 2 Games Workshop kits we’ve reviewed on Big Orbit games have come with just 2 sprues and have cost £20 each (Blood Angels Death Company & Sanguinary Guard), in those kits you only got 5 infantrymen where the Boar Boyz box contains 5 cavalry.

The Con’s

There aren’t a lot, if I did have a gripe it is that there are only 6 shields, now this wouldn’t be a problem it they were quite plain. However, as they are all so distinct duplicate shields will stand out in a unit. After all the attention to detail that was paid elsewhere this seems a shame. Maybe 2 part shields or some other solution can be found for future kits, if this is an issue to anyone but myself.

Summary

I can’t enthuse too much about this kit, it’s easy to work with, it offers tons of variety and the resulting models look fantastic, it’s as near perfect as I imagine any kit will ever be so I see no reason not to give it…

Overall score: 10/10